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Future Vehicle Safety Feature May Detect Our Moods

Future cars and trucks may have a new safety feature installed called the mood-sensitive electronics system. This new technology is currently in the development stage with hopes that vehicle’s safety alert systems will be able to adapt to the driver’s mood, according to Whatcar.com. You’re probably asking yourself, “How can my vehicle know what mood I’m in?” Not a problem! The system will utilize several scanning cameras that acknowledge both the driver’s position, and recognize 238 spots on human faces that reveal emotions.

When driver’s are sad, angry, or sleepy, driving quality is greatly affected which increase the likelihood of an accident. Soon, your vehicle will detect these moods and proactively adjust the electronic alert system to give driver’s a heads up. If the system determines your mood is normal, then the standard alerting configuration will be used.

Automakers Toyota and Audi seem to be the two manufacturer’s aggressively pursuing camera scanning technology to help driver’s keep an eye on the road. Audi is implementing cameras that also detect driver’s head positions. If the camera system detects head positions that suggest the driver isn’t pay attention, the crash-avoidance system will be triggered earlier than usual to allow plenty of reaction time.

A professor from Cambridge University is working on a system that can detect language and conversations to assist the cameras in deciphering your mood. Also, the same technologies that provide bluetooth and GPS guidance could be used to stop phone calls or prevent speeding if it senses the driver is under stress.

These new systems are still years away from hitting your average vehicle, but not too far. Toyota has been working on this technology for 6 years already, and their senior manager of advanced technology, Jonas Ambeck, says that it could make its way into vehicles by 2018.